Push back storage rack systems employing rolling carts for carrying pallets or skids are well known in the art and many variations have been considered. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 5,415,300 to Krummel et al. discloses a push back cart storage system including an outer cart having wheels rolling on a pair of laterally spaced, parallel, inclined support rails. A middle cart has forward wheels rolling on side members of the outer cart. The rear wheels on the middle cart roll on the support rails. An inner cart has front wheels rolling on the side members of the middle cart. The rear wheels of the inner cart roll on the support rails.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,184,738 to Allen discloses a storage rack system having a plurality of storage bays adapted to store pallets three, four and five pallets deep. A pair of laterally spaced, parallel, inclined outer tracks extend the full depth of the storage bay while a pair of inclined inner tracks extend partially into the storage bay. A plurality of carts roll along the tracks and support pallets.
Although the above references disclose push back storage rack systems, problems exist. In particular, the design of these push back storage rack systems allows carts to be double loaded with pallets which may result in overloading and damage to the wheels of the carts. Furthermore, the design of the carts requires the depth of the storage rack systems to exceed significantly the actual depth required to store the pallets resulting in wasted space.
Accordingly, there exists a need for an improved push back storage rack system. It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide a novel push back storage rack system.